Legal Question in Employment Law in Tennessee

Idling Time in for a truck
My husban drives for Comtrack out of Memphis, TN. He has been there two and a half years. He is a company driver. These last two months the company has taken over $400 out of his paychecks for the truck idling. Anything over 40% he has to pay for. But they never tell him they are going to take money out and he has never signed anything saying it is ok for them to. Is this legal?

Asked on 5/30/07, 12:10 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Sterling DeRamus Sterling L. DeRamus, Attorney at Law

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Re: Idling Time in for a truck

It might be a contractual issue but that unfortunately doesn't get you very much.

It would be a Fair Labor Standards Act violation if during any work week, his pay dipped below $5.15/hour which is minimum wage. You say that over a two month period they've taken out $400 out of his paychecks. Idling time is still work time according to the law. Thus if he worked a total of 40 hours one week (including idling time), and was paid, after the idling deduction, less than $206.00 then they are violating the law and I would be happy to sue them for you.

If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to send me a note.

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Answered on 6/01/07, 12:34 pm

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